Huckabee getting serious about a 2016 bid?

posted at 3:21 pm on March 12, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Mike Huckabee ran a strong primary campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, but eventually fell short to John McCain and Mitt Romney. He skipped the 2012 cycle, despite raising his profile as a national-television talk show host. Will he give it a whirl in 2016? The Hill’s Cameron Joseph thinks Huckabee is getting “more serious” about it:

“He’s more serious this time. He sees the environment to be better for him this time than in 2012,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Huckabee’s daughter and a senior strategist from his first presidential campaign. “It just seems so right for a lot of different reasons. I think there is a bigger opportunity this time around, and he’s very, very seriously considering a run.”

The 2008 runner-up for the nomination has been hard at work reconnecting with past supporters and building new relationships with the GOP establishment. He’s already visited Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, with another trip to Iowa planned for early April. He’s made a number of high-profile speeches in recent weeks, including last week’s address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

If he does run, Huckabee would start off in a much stronger position than he did six years ago. He’s well-known by the GOP base and has even led in a number of early 2016 polls, both nationally and in early voting Iowa and South Carolina.

The most telling indicator of his thinking is Huckabee’s decision not to renew his lucrative radio contract in order to free up his schedule for other activities. A major factor in deciding not to run last time was that he was making good money for the first time in his life. He was in the process of building an expensive house on Florida’s panhandle and wasn’t ready to give up his big paycheck at the time.

That’s certainly one indicator that Huckabee could be clearing the decks, although moving from his radio show to an Internet platform might not be that much of a change. Huckabee also appeared at CPAC last weekend, which isn’t necessarily a major indicator, either — lots of Republicans appear and speak at CPAC, in or out of office, without aiming for the nomination. Huckabee did hold a press conference at the time, which I attended (and offered a question on economic policy). Huckabee pressed hard on social conservatism and populist economics, just as Joseph suggests:

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He’s shifted from the Fair Tax to the flat tax, Joseph reports, perhaps in a way to build bridges with fiscal conservatives. Huckabee has also reversed course on supporting Common Core, which has come under withering criticism from conservatives, although to what extent isn’t quite clear. All of these would be opening moves for a 2016 bid.

However, the Republican Party has changed enough to where former candidates probably won’t get taken all that seriously. The base wants fresh voices and fresh approaches rather than a reversion to the next-in-line pattern of the GOP. They will have plenty of governors from which to choose in 2016 — Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, perhaps Susana Martinez if she tosses her hat in the ring, or maybe even Rick Perry, although he tried and failed in the last cycle. Inside Washington, we’ll probably see freshmen Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio give it a whirl. These all look like the future rather than the past, and Huckabee will have that extra hurdle to overcome if he wants to compete in this new environment.

But who knows? This cycle might be even more wide open than 2008, as Jake Tapper suggested to Hugh Hewitt last night. In fact, there’s only one potential candidate Tapper is willing to discount, and it’s another talk-show host (via Jeff Dunetz):

Click bait…. Atheist and bigots will be on here screaming about socon boogie men… The problem is most socons don’t want Huckabee, because he is a big government “compassionate conservative.” And we all know how that ended with Bush.

I’m not sure what his major differentiator is with other candidates besides social issues. While I hope our candidate is pro-life, and I don’t view being pro-life as a political liability, I have a hard time imaging Huckabee talking about social issues in a way that doesn’t turn of people in the middle.

He’s the worst kind of faux social conservative- one that hides his socially liberal views behind the label of fundamental evangelism. Huckabee seems like a nice enough guy. He is well spoken and I agree with much he says.

According to my sister every Saturday my Mom takes the phone off the hook, gets a glass of Ensure, cranks the space heater up and falls asleep with Governor Huck turned up so loud it rattles the windows.
It’s evidently like Lawrence Welk only less racy.

He’s already preforming a valuable public service right where he is. No need to screw that up.

Word to the wise for anyone who thinks conservatives will vote for whoever gets the GOP nomination…..

If it is a RINO, look for over 10 million not voting for the GOP or DNC candidate. Bank on it. (I will be one of them)

Conservative4Ever on March 12, 2014 at 3:50 PM

Especially if it one of those bait-and-switch deals where the candidate claims that they are conservatives despite their record that says otherwise. I don’t have to agree with a candidate on every single issue but they have to address dissenting opinion in a way that respects that difference. Lectures from a fat blow hard that conservatives need to support whoever is offered up by the establishment GOP if they ever want to lead again?- well that was just another nail in the coffin for the “Republican” who endorsed Obama days before the election.

I’d like to Jindal/Walker in any combination myself. Gives me political chill bumps to think about what those two could accomplish together.

lineholder on March 12, 2014 at 4:01 PM

The problem I have with your dream team is a lack of foreign and national security policy experience. Bush overcame his weakness in this area by running with Cheney. Obama overcame this weakness by picking Biden (no, really, that’s true). I think the GOP needs to look past the US Senate for its next candidates but that doesn’t mean we can/should seek out individuals who have no experience past DC and as the chief executive of a state.

Ah yes, Huckabee. Yes a Well-Meaning, Amnesty-Supporting, Compassionate Big-Government Conservative, yes let’s run HIM… and I’m pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-war on drugs…. please let’s have another well-meaning dunce advance good government and be shocked at how it turns out….

Let’s face it: the only Republicans who would choose Huckabee as a first, second, or third choice are Iowa evangelicals. His second-place finish in South Carolina in 2008 (to McCain) was due more to the overall weakness of the field than true popularity, although he remains viable in the upstate region as in other Southern states.

Huckabee raised spending and taxes virtually every year as Governor of Arkansas and issued hundreds of pardons to serious offenders, many of whom committed new crimes shortly after their release.

He lacks conservative principles and sound judgment.

So The Hill, The New Republic, and Roll Call all find him a potential 2016 winner? When have any of those publications wished anything but destruction on the Republican Party?

Just what the GOP needs, a low rent Elmer Gantry who thinks it is “UnChristian” to deny benefits to illegal aliens, thinks his Christian duty to the poor means higher taxes and higher government benefits, and thinks his Christian duty to forgive involves giving government pardons to convicts who repent.

Pete: The Preacher said it absolved us.

Ulysses Everett McGill: For him, not for the law. I’m surprised at you, Pete, I gave you credit for more brains than Delmar.

Delmar O’Donnell: But they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.

Ulysses Everett McGill: That’s not the issue Delmar. Even if that did put you square with the Lord, the State of Mississippi’s a little more hard-nosed.

[laughs]

Ulysses Everett McGill: Baptism! You two are just dumber than a bag of hammers!

The good thing about Huckabee is he’s a good man. The bad thing about Huckabee is he’s a good man. People like that aren’t the kind that stand up against the bad guys. He’s a RINO. His tv show is good, well done. He found his niche there and should have stayed.

Just what the GOP needs, a low rent Elmer Gantry who thinks it is “UnChristian” to deny benefits to illegal aliens, thinks his Christian duty to the poor means higher taxes and higher government benefits, and thinks his Christian duty to forgive involves giving government pardons to convicts who repent.

Pete: The Preacher said it absolved us.

Ulysses Everett McGill: For him, not for the law. I’m surprised at you, Pete, I gave you credit for more brains than Delmar.

Delmar O’Donnell: But they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.

Ulysses Everett McGill: That’s not the issue Delmar. Even if that did put you square with the Lord, the State of Mississippi’s a little more hard-nosed.

[laughs]

Ulysses Everett McGill: Baptism! You two are just dumber than a bag of hammers!

I hope Huckabee runs and I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. He’s a genuine social conservative, gives us some real economic populism, is a good communicator, and polls either close or at the top of the GOP field.

After Maurice Clemmons shot and killed four Lakewood police officers last November, the world went looking for someone to blame other than the gunman. It found Mike Huckabee, who made for a convenient target. But it turns out that the world, in all its infinite wisdom, had scapegoated the wrong Arkansas governor.

Thanks to the Seattle Times latest entry in the remarkable series on what led up to the shootings, we now know that if any elected official in Arkansas deserves some blame for Clemmons massacre it’s not Mike Huckabee, whose only crime was to reduce the sentence of a teenager forced to serve 100 years for non-violent crimes, it’s current Governor Mike Beebe…

I hope Huckabee runs and I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. He’s a genuine social conservative, gives us some real economic populism, is a good communicator, and polls either close or at the top of the GOP field.
Stoic Patriot on March 12, 2014 at 5:07 PM

Yes because the lack of social conservatism got us 17 trillion in debt

I hope Huckabee runs and I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. He’s a genuine social conservative (i.e. pro-life socialist) gives us some real economic populism (translation: economic illiteracy), is a good communicator (aka amiable dunce) and polls (translation: weighs) either close or at the top of the GOP field.

And Joseph is full of it. In his CPAC Speech, Huckabee called for the Fair Tax. That some people don’t get the difference between the two is forgivable and that a guy working for the Hill doesn’t is kind of pathetic.

With that said, Huckabee is basically a socially conservative Democrat, and would have no chance making it out of the primary.

GOPRanknFile on March 12, 2014 at 3:26 PM

So is it basic for Democrats to be pro 2nd and 10th amendment, anti 16th and 17th amendment, pro voter ID, pro term limits, opposes ACA or any insurance mandate, pro peace through strength, pro border fence, opposes gov’t bailouts, etc. The list goes on and on. Have you ever read anything the man has written, or actually listened to him? Or do you form your opinion based on out-of-context soundbites and anti-huckabee blog posts/vile uninformed comment sections?

Sadly, the very label Common Core has come to be associated with things I detest, like agenda driven curriculum that indoctrinates instead of educates.

… Common Core as a brand is dead and hopefully the perversions of it will die as well.

…For those who think I embrace Common Core, I don’t embrace or even want to tolerate what it’s come to mean in too many locations. Yes, it’s been hijacked, and I don’t support the hijackers or the destination, but I don’t blame the airplane for getting hijacked. I just hope we aren’t willing to accept mediocrity as a standard.

I’m a Christian and a SoCon, and I hope Huckabee doesn’t run. We really need someone who is more fiscally conservative than Huckabee proved himself as being during his time as governor of AR.

lineholder on March 12, 2014 at 3:30 PM

Interestingly, during Gov. Huckabee’s entire tenure as the chief executive in Arkansas, the Demorcrat party controlled both houses of the legislature, and could defeat his vetoes by a simple majority. So, one might say there were mitigating circumstances. Comparing him to say, Palin or Perry would be comparing apples and oranges.

In the era of the Clinton machine, Huckabee was able to stay in office because of his popularity, and in doing so, began to dismantle that machine and move Arkansas into the Redstate column.

I have 4 words that say he will never, ever get any nomination for president:

RENNINGER
OWENS
GRISWOLD
RICHARDS

These are the four officers slain by the convict who had a 95-year sentence that the dunce gov. Huckabee pardoned.

Ain’t gonna happen.

Hey Huck, if the deaths of 4 men in Benghazi matter (and they certainly do), then the deaths of these 4 police officers matter too.

stenwin77 on March 12, 2014 at 3:34 PM

I will remind people that his “compassionate conservatism” got 3 Washington State Police officers killed because he pardoned a scumbag.

portlandon on March 12, 2014 at 3:36 PM

More ignorance based on factual errors. Huckabee did not PARDON Clemmons. Words have meanings. Huckabee’s clemency action commuted the 90+ year sentence of Clemmons for non-violent crimes which he committed when he was 17 years old. Huckabee took this executive action at the recommendation of the trial judge and the parole board. Clemmons was still in prison after this action, and that is the end of Huckabee’s involvement.

The Huckster failed as a radio talk show host and has a horrible show on FOX, so sure why wouldn’t a moderate like himself want to jump in and muddy the waters?

I cannot see a future for this man in American politics.

redguy on March 12, 2014 at 3:35 PM

I also think Huckabee’s radio show could have been better; it seemed he was too restrained and diplomatic compared to other more entertaining talkers. On the other hand, his TV show consistently wins his time-slot in the ratings against the other news networks.

Moderate. Heh. Ask any Dem if he’s a moderate. I’m sure he won Iowa, and most of the South (and almost SC) in ’08 because those GOP base voters were hungry for a moderate. Oh and by the way, we’re about to have a Southern Super Tuesday in 2016 where Huckabee could clean up.

Instead of tossing around what amounts to ad-hominems, why can’t people just admit that there’s not an appropriate label for Huckabee. He’s not establishment, and not tea-party in the sense that he’s anti-establishment. You can’t call him a RINO, because he stands strongly and proudly for everything in the party platform. And to use Glenn Beck’s slander…well, I’ve never heard of a Progressive who regularly touts and praises the Constitution. Maybe he’s not King Conservative, but he can govern, and I bet he’d be more conservative than our last 4 presidents.

Ask any Dem if he’s a moderate. I’m sure he won Iowa, and most of the South (and almost SC) in ’08 because those GOP base voters were hungry for a moderate.

ceruleanblue on March 12, 2014 at 10:09 PM

Thank you for several great comments.

Here’s what I wrote in 2012 about the SC primary:

Whether he realizes it or not, Fred Thompson was John McCain’s stalking horse. Fred Thompson’s role in the 2008 Republican Primary (in which he entered late, left early, and never had that “fire in the belly”) was to ensure that John McCain did not lose the SC primary to the evangelical Mike Huckabee.

Remember that John McCain lost the SC primary in 2000 to the evangelical George W. Bush. John McCain gave his “Agents of Intolerance” tirade in VA shortly thereafter. McCain was furious with evangelicals, and made sure that he wouldn’t lose SC again in 2008. Fred Thompson’s role in the Republican Primary was to attack Mike Huckabee and ensure that his “good friend John McCain” won the SC primary.

Without Thompson in the race, Huckabee would have won SC in 2008. With Thompson in the race, he pulled enough support away from Huckabee to enable McCain to win SC in 2008. Then, with his mission accomplished, Fred Thompson quit the race three days later.

And in no small part thanks to Fred Thompson, we ended up with McCain as the nominee…

McCain fought harder to win the Republican primary in 2008 than he did to win the general election!

Had Huckabee won the nomination and general election, we would never have had Obamacare, and we would have had two more conservative justices in the spots currently occupied by Sotomayor and Kagan.

So cry me a river, Fred Thompson! You are a major part of why we ended up with Obamacrap.